Rep. Zach Fansler talks with constituents at a GCI community event on August 17, 2017.

Credit Dean Swope / KYUK

YK Delta legislators have joined the ranks of public officials denouncing President Donald Trump’s statement that “both sides” were to blame for the violence that erupted in Charlottesville, Virginia this past weekend. Protests injured more than a dozen people, and one woman was killed when struck by a car allegedly driven by a white supremacist.

“You need to unequivocally denounce racism," said Democratic Representative Zach Fansler, who supports the statement issued by his Majority House Coalition on Wednesday in which House Speaker Bryce Edgmon said, “President Trump was flat out wrong to equate those standing up to hate and violence with those perpetrating such acts.”

Sen. Lyman Hoffman talks with constituents at a GCI community event on August 17, 2017.

Credit Dean Swope / KYUK

“That’s just the bottom line of it" said Rep. Fansler, "and comparing anti-protesters to protesters who have a clearly racist, white supremacist agenda is just foolish.”